HAITI
4-H Clubs
Organizational
Information
Contact: Dr. Antuine Augustin, MARCH (Management & Resources
in Community Health) City Med, 27 Rue Dardine, Pettionville Haiti West
Indies
Established: 1996
Members: Almost 500
Clubs: 9, meet weekly
Number of Volunteers: About 40
Number of Staff: 3
Supporting Organizations: Ventures In People & Sheboygan
Co. 4-H (WI)
The 4-H Pledge: Same as US, but translated into Creole
and put to music.
Slogan: To Make the Best Better
Emblem: 4-H Clover with Haiti imposed over it.
Program focus: To provide hands-on instruction in Community Health, Nutrition, and Agriculture. To reach the youth of Haiti who don't have the opportunity to receive a formal education.
Other information:
4-H in Haiti was conceived in January of 1996. Members of the Ventures
In People organization sat down with one of Sheboygan County's 4-H and
Youth agents and put together some guidelines for organizing 4-H in
Haiti. Since that time, these guidelines have been rewritten, translated
into Creole, and put into a manual which is now used to organize clubs
and used as a leadership tool.
Haiti is the poorest third world country in the western hemisphere,
with a population of more the 7 million in a country the size of Maryland.
Only about 27% of the youth have an opportunity to receive a formal
education. Ventures In People has been working in Haiti since 1979 doing
whatever we can to improve their way of life. 4-H in Haiti was a natural
way to reach some of the youth who didn't have the oppertunity to go
to school.
Back in 1996, the concept of 4-H was presented to adults and youth in
two villages: Mirebalais and Sarrazin. We were quite pleased with the
results and two clubs were organized with 5 leaders and 20 members each.
We asked Pierre Joe Jeannette, an employee of MARCH City Med, to oversee
the clubs, and that she did. Jeannette should be commended for all her
hard work, forming four more clubs in her area and the Mirebalais club
growing to 180 members. Since that time, Ventures In People, working
along with MARCH, have organized 3 more clubs in different parts of
Haiti. This past summer, Ventures In People along with Sheboygan County
4-H'ers took a trip to Haiti and visited 5 of the 4-H clubs. It was
a great people to people experience for all those involved.
